With that in mind we have developed a few guidelines to help scholars better understand good scientific writing. By adding precision in our communication to authors concerning areas for improvement, authors are able to raise the quality level of articles before they arrive at the IFAMR for peer review and thereby helping to streamline the review process.

Editorial Philosophy

The IFAMR is a scholarly journal that focuses on theoretical or applied research and teaching cases addressing problems and solutions relevant to management scholars or agribusiness managers. All submissions must explicitly address this premise throughout the manuscript, especially in the objectives, results, and conclusions.

Our Goals

To elevate the quality and impact of agribusiness scholarship worldwide by meeting the needs of authors as they seek greater impact from their research writing through:

Teaching and counseling authors about the research process and scientific writing.

Supporting the needs of non-English speakers with technical editing services.

World-wide marketing of the journal and articles to all agribusiness scholars, departments, analysts, and relevant government bodies.

Direct internet access to the journal immediately upon publication.

Blind Reviews: Key Facts

Reviewers do not know the author(s) identity

The review team consists of two four reviewers and a Managing Editor

They are volunteers

Reviewers are our “gatekeepers”

They consider the method’s relevancy and quality

They check the likely impact of your analysis

They consider your research within the current literature on your topic

They are time pressed Reviewers can be grumpy

They are looking for errors

Grammatical errors are the easiest to find

Top Ten (1a)

Use a Technical Editor that is Proficient in English

A paper never has been criticized or rejected because the English was too good.

Use the Chicago Manual of Style for reference citations.

Keep your sentence structure short.

Example-Original: “The understanding of the energy-producing system as an intricate chain of phases that ranging from the field production to end-user utilization not only greatly increases our overall understanding of it but also facilitates the modeling activity.”

Example-Rewritten: “The energy production system involves an intricate supply chain from feedstock production to end-user fuel utilization. Modeling bioenergy systems as a linked process improves the analytical process and leads to greater insights.Don’t over introduce terms for the same subject, action or concept

Be specific.

Avoid jargon, rhetoric, slang and abbreviations.

Top Ten (1b)

Use a Technical Editor that is Proficient in English

Try not to begin with a phrase:

Incorrect: “In order to start the assessment of our energy system, a systematical approach must be designed.”Better: “Assessing an energy system requires a systematic approach.”

Minimize auxiliary verbs (is, was, etc.) Use action verbs.

Minimize adjectives/adverbs.

Use adjectives/adverbs after presenting a supported argument.

Don’t use the passive voice

Try not to put yourself in the paper. Limit the use of first person.

Minimize possessive and personal pronouns, e.g., our and he, unless it is clear to whom or what you refer.